Friday, July 08, 2011

The Eloquence of Silence

In May, racism in Australia once again made its way into the world’s headlines. Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner was reported by the China Daily News, amongst others, as saying there was a strong undercurrent of racism in Australia. "There is a racial discriminatory element here which I see as (the) rather inhumane treatment of people, judged by their differences, racial, colour or religions," China’s largest English language daily reported her as saying.

Four days before the end of June, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) online Opinion page, The Drum, published an article which inadvertently provided a clue to the depth of this undertow that pollutes the perception of the Land Down Under around the world in general and Asia in particular. In an article about the National Broadband Network, The only NBN monopoly seems to be on ignorance, its author, Stilgherrian stated “There will still be cheap ISPs offering over-crowded international links and a call centre in the Philippines that might finally answer your call after an hour on hold, only to present you with a human who barely understands what email is.”

The extent of the ignorance that underscores this statement is only exceeded by The Drum reader’s mute acceptance. With over 12 million more internet users than Australia, it should come as no surprise that the average urban Filipino’s IT knowledge and hands on experience encompasses all levels of society.

I live in the inner city suburb of Poblacion, a stone’s throw from the central business district of Makati. The compound I call home has four houses with seven computers connected to the internet of which only one is owned and operated by the Kano (foreigner). A five minute walk from my front door, in this un-gated working class suburb, gives me access to half a dozen internet cafes which at 20 pesos (a little under 50 cents) an hour is an affordability that attests to their sustained popularity.

Recognised as the world’s third largest English speaking country, a second language about which the Philippine Government claims 75% of the country’s 99 million inhabitants are fluent, Call Centers have been a major growth industry for the last decade. Unlike Australia where the admission of being a call center agent is mumbled into a beer followed by a quick change in the conversation, in the Philippines it is job that often evokes envy.

My nephew-in-law, Rod Corpuz, who has a BSc in Agriculture, works the grave yard shift for one of the bigger call centers. He says “the money is too good to ignore.” And he is not alone. A graduate teacher can earn double the teacher’s wage on a call center’s base salary and for a top performer the performance bonuses can almost triple the teacher’s stipend.

Stilgherrian’s piece attracted a goodly number of comments, 173 before being closed, which argued the merits and otherwise of the NBN along with displays of ideological bias that underpin many of the stances this strangely controversial topic attracts. But, amongst them all, not one challenged the racial stereotyping inherent in the underlying assumption that Filipinos are computer illiterate especially in comparison to their Australian counterparts.

This silence gives eloquent support to the China Daily’s reading of the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s comments about the undercurrent of racism exists in Australia. A mise en scène about which the American writer, Mark Twain said “that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence, which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words, howsoever felicitous, could accomplish it.”

But, perhaps the final word should be left to one of the first to comment on the article, the “VillageIdiot”, who said in part “Thanks for a clear, balanced & factual article.”

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The expat

Henry Bateman is an artist and writer currently living in Australia, a return home after living in the Philippines for 10 years. The Ex Expat, is his blog about the arts (often) and politics (sometimes).
His writing has been published by Crikey.com (Australia), Artslant (US), The Expat Travel & Lifestyle Magazine & The Expat Newspaper (both in the Philippines) and The Western Review (Australia).
He has also had seven solo exhibitions and has had his work shown in 15 group exhibitions as well as 35 theater commissions as a set designer and/or lighting designer.